I am new to this forum as well as mud motors. Yall have a great forum going here. i know this is probably a pretty debated question but being a newbie Im interested in hearing both sides. I am in the market for a boat to serve both for duck hunting and fishing . Hard to do I know. i fish in Fourchon, Golden Meadow and Delacroix. Mostly in the marsh and I rarely have to make long runs. Both the duck lease and fishing areas are extremely shallow. i am leaning towards a 35 hp surface drive motor on a 18ft aluminum hull ( not sure which brand yet) w/ poling platform. Thanks for the info in advance. Trying to do as much research as possible to help make the right decision.

gtr do good in saltwater marsh and have the reverse of a outboard

I was in the same debate as you were. I had a triton bass boat because I fished a lot of lakes and because all my fuck holes were easily accessible by truck or 4wheeler. Long story short several of the holes dried up or lost rights to, bought an alumacraft with a lt on it and loved it. In the time I had that rig I mighta took my triton out 2 times. Well running that lt for a while I missed speed. Needless to say sold the bass boat and lt to fund a sd rig. Got a mud buddy 35 hd sport with 19 hrs for an awesome price and still waiting on my F4 to get here. I don't see the need for reverse on a mm(YET!) plus ill be adding a poling platform asap to get after them reds.

The ****'s were suppose to say duck. Guess I hit f instead of d!

I agree with what Team Camo said. You should go test drive them all before you make your decision. And, when you are thinking about which hull, don't forget to look into the custom builders.

You need to test drive some rigs that have the options you want. The more weight you add in the boat & depending upon the size of the boat you choose you may want to look at a Stage 1 on any motor you choose...

I selected the GTR b/c I fish all the time instant reverse sold me, but I test drove them all!

I have added a poling platform and now a casting deck keep the boat light & before ordering your boat think of everything you may do after you pick it up to it, incorporating future add-ons & alerting your builder of these can help save you time & money should you want to wait a few months before picking up the blind, the casting deck, poling platform etc...

I plan on test driving as many boat motor combonations as possible. I think the surface drive will be better than an outboard for my hunting and fishing needs. Keep the info coming - I appreciate it.

Reverse is really nice

Yea, and if you get GTR westend and take'em will let you in the cool kid club and give you some pom poms For real though, I liked the reverse myself and ordered a GTR...